Capital Center Director Reacts to Justice Kennedy’s SCOTUS Retirement

Earlier today, Professor Leslie Gielow Jacobs – Director of the Capital Center for Law & Policy at McGeorge School of Law – offered her reaction to Justice Kennedy’s announcement that he will be retiring from the Supreme Court of the United States, effective July 31, 2018. She gave her thoughts on the Capital Public Radio program Insight with Beth Ruyak. You can find some excerpts from her conversation with Beth below, and you can find the entirety of their conversation here.

On the space Justice Kennedy occupied on the Court:

“I have a fond place in my heart for what we call ‘swing justices.’ That is, if you’re the person in the middle, you’re certainly looking very, very carefully at the facts of each case the circumstances. That might cause you to go one way or another and you’re not as strict, maybe, ideologically one way or the other.”

On which cases will be Justice Kennedy’s legacy:

“Gay marriage is the biggest change. He was the one who came on to the Court and began writing these opinions and he was always assigned the majority opinion in that area of interpreting the Constitution, and the Equal Protection Clause, and gay rights. His influence there is profound. … If I had to choose a legacy, it’d be the gay rights cases.”

On things to look for in the next nominee for the Supreme Court:

“I would predict the next Justice would be late forties, early fifties.”

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About this Blog

CAP⋅impact provides the information, advice, and analysis you need to understand and shape the rules around you. We provide all content for educational purposes only, and subject to our disclaimers. CAP·impact is a project of the nonpartisan Capital Center for Law & Policy at McGeorge School of Law.